A Peoria County coroner’s jury has ruled that the death of a Wyoming boy in a traffic accident Nov. 26 was a homicide.

An inquest was held in Peoria Thursday into the death of Shubham D. Patel, 7, who was riding in a van driven by his mother, Hena Patel, when the accident occurred.

The youngster died at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria after being life-flighted from Kewanee Hospital after the accident on Route 78 just south of the Route 17 junction in Stark County.

According to evidence Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll presented at the inquest, an autopsy indicated the child died from multiple injuries sustained in the accident.

Stark County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Peed, who investigated the accident, testified at the inquest that Shubham was an unrestrained passenger in a minivan driven by Mrs. Patel.

The van drifted off the highway on the east side, went into a ditch and struck a culvert. The van went airborne before the front end struck the ground. The child was ejected.

Peed testified that both the mother and her son were transported by ambulance to Kewanee Hospital.He said a blood test at the hospital showed Mrs. Patel had a blood alcohol level of .226; the legal limit is .08.

No charges have been filed.

The case remains under investigation by the Stark County Sheriff’s Department and Stark County States Attorney Jim Owens.

Court records indicate the Patel family lived in Wyoming. But they were in the process of moving to Galva after having purchased the supermarket there.

Shubham Patel had attended Galva Elementary School for the first time on the day of the accident.